Microsoft Project Introduction: Desktop Edition

By Seth Bonder

This Microsoft Project training course manual is designed to show students how to use Microsoft Project to effectively manage projects. The course manual covers the critical knowledge and skills a project manager, or other individual tasked with managing projects, needs to create a project plan with Microsoft Project and shows students how to utilize Microsoft Project to oversee the planning, execution, monitoring, and controlling phases of their projects. This course manual will enable students to utilize Microsoft Project to manage projects so that they are completed on time, within budget, and according to scope.

Readers will learn how Microsoft Project calculates their project schedule using a project start or end date, task relationships, resource availability and project calendars. Students will also see how to use various views in Microsoft Project, including the Gantt chart view, to analyze the project progress. This course manual also shows students how to share the project plan with others who may not have Microsoft Project installed and how to create a Project template to speed the creation of future projects.

This manual helps students to be able to:

Identify project management concepts and navigate the Microsoft Project environment
Create and define a new project plan
Create and organize tasks
Manage resources in a project plan
Finalize a project plan
Update a project plan to reflect progress as you execute the project
Monitor project progress in the project plan
Adjust the project plan to control constraints
Create project reports to share a project’s status
Customize project settings and share customizations with other projects

Exercise files for the course can be obtained by emailing [e-mail]

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pathfinder Learning, LLC
• Release date: Nov 21, 2022
• ISBN: 9780990840480

Book preview

Microsoft Office®

Project®

Student Guide

MS Project Icon978-0-9908404-8-0

Table

of Contents

How to Use This Book      6

Setting Up the Class Exercise Files      6

Part 1: Planning the Project      7

Lesson 1: Groundwork—Where Do We Start?      9

Topic A: Project Management and Definitions      11

Topic B: The Program Layout—Navigation      14

Exercise 1-1: Opening the Program, Learning the Layout      15

Topic C: Some Useful Program Options      19

Exercise 1-2: Using the Options Dialog Box      20

Topic D: A Few Project Essentials and Settings      24

Exercise 1-3: Learning Some In-Window Settings and Other Views      25

Lesson 2: Starting a New Project      29

Topic A: Using a Project Template      31

Exercise 2-1: Starting a New Project with a Template      32

Topic B: Setting the Project Properties      35

Exercise 2-2: Setting Properties in the Project Information Box      36

Exercise 2-3: Entering Information in the Advanced Properties Box      38

Topic C: Create and Apply a Project Calendar      41

Exercise 2-4: Creating and Applying a Project Calendar      42

Lesson 3: Working with Tasks      47

Topic A: Inserting and Modifying Tasks      49

Exercise 3-1: Inserting and Arranging Basic Tasks      50

Exercise 3-2: Setting Durations and Dates      52

Topic B: Linking Tasks and Setting Relationships      53

Exercise 3-3: Link Tasks and Set Relationships      55

Exercise 3-4: Setting Lag and Lead in a Task Relationship      58

Topic C: Summary Tasks and Milestones      60

Exercise 3-5: Creating Summary Tasks and Milestones      61

Topic D: Using Manual vs. Auto Scheduling      64

Exercise 3-6: Setting Tasks to Manual or Auto Scheduling      65

Lesson 4: Creating and Assigning Resources      67

Topic A: Adding Resources to a Project      69

Exercise 4-1: Adding Resources to a Project      70

Exercise 4-2: Adding Costs to Work Resources      72

Topic B: The Resource Calendar      74

Exercise 4-3: Modifying a Resource Calendar      75

Topic C: Connecting Resources to Tasks      79

Exercise 4-4: Assign Resources to Tasks      80

Exercise 4-5: Making Tasks Effort-Driven      84

Exercise 4-6: Using Resource Leveling      86

Lesson 5: Finishing the Plan      90

Topic A: Using the Critical Path      92

Exercise 5-1: Displaying the Critical Path      93

Exercise 5-2: Modifying Resources      97

Exercise 5-3: Reassigning Resources on Tasks      100

Topic B: Setting and Using the Baseline      103

Exercise 5-4: Setting a Baseline and Checking Project Statistics      104

Topic C: Sharing and Exporting the Plan      108

Exercise 5-5: Printing and Exporting a Project Plan File      109

Part 2: Executing the Project      117

Lesson 6: Running the Project      119

Topic A: Updating Task Progress      121

Exercise 6-1: Setting the Status Date and Updating Tasks      122

Topic B: Using the Progress Line      126

Exercise 6-2: Showing and Using the Progress Line      127

Topic C: Reorganizing Data to View Progress      129

Exercise 6-3: Grouping, Sorting, and Filtering Project Data      130

Lesson 7: Updating the Project Schedule      134

Topic A: Rescheduling Tasks      136

Exercise 7-1: Splitting and Rescheduling Tasks      137

Topic B: Editing the Task List      140

Exercise 7-2: Adding, Deleting, Moving, and Inactivating Tasks      141

Topic C: Updating and Using Baselines      144

Exercise 7-3: Using a Baseline with the Tracking Gantt Chart      145

Lesson 8: Using Different Project Views      149

Topic A: Creating and Using Custom Views      151

Exercise 8-1: Creating a Custom Single View      152

Exercise 8-2: Creating and Using a Custom Combination View      154

Topic B: The Network Diagram View      156

Exercise 8-3: Working with the Network Diagram View      157

Topic C: The Timeline      160

Exercise 8-4: Displaying and Editing the Timeline      161

Exercise 8-5: Using the Timeline in a PowerPoint® Presentation (Optional)      163

Lesson 9: Working with Reports      165

Topic A: Using Standard Reports      167

Exercise 9-1: Calling Up Standard Reports      168

Topic B: Creating a Custom Report      171

Exercise 9-2: Creating a Custom Report      172

Topic C: Using a Visual Report      178

Exercise 9-3: Calling Up a Visual Report      179

Lesson 10: Additional Features      183

Topic A: Importing Data from Excel      185

Exercise 10-1: Importing Data from an Excel File      186

Topic B: Using the Organizer      190

Exercise 10-2: Using the Organizer      191

Topic C: Creating a Project Template      193

Exercise 10-3: Saving a Project as a Template      194

Topic D: Master Projects and Subprojects      198

Exercise 10-4: Creating Subprojects and a Master Project      199

INDEX      205

MS Project Icon

How to Use This Book

This book is designed to be used as part of an instructor-led course. It contains various lessons that will guide you through learning the course material. The topics are explained including definitions of terms and relevant screen captures. Also included are exercises that will reinforce the material discussed.  The exercises build on each other.

Setting Up the Class Exercise Files

You should have a Windows-capable PC running, with any version of Windows from Windows 7 on up. Any installed version of Microsoft Office® Project® from 2013 on will run the exercise files without any trouble.

When you sign up for the course, aside from this book, you should receive (usually via email) a compressed or zipped file with the exercise files inside it. To unzip, you can normally double-click the zipped file; you’ll get a dialog box asking where you want to put the resulting material. We recommend unzipping to the Desktop, as it’s the easiest place to find and work with things during class. If you prefer to put the files on your C: drive, or anywhere else, they’ll work, but don’t forget where you put them!

Within the folder you’ll see, there should be sub-folders for each lesson. Sometimes, depending on the course, there may not be any exercise files in a lesson folder at the beginning of the lesson—you may be asked to create them. But there will usually be at least one. If you’re not sure, read through the lesson material and check whether you need to open a file early on. There may also be files with a name ending in Complete—these show you approximately where each lesson’s work should end you up.

Part 1: Planning the Project

Lesson 1: Groundwork—Where Do We Start?

In this lesson, you will be introduced to:

1 Project Management and Definitions

2 The Program Layout—Navigation

3 Some Useful Program Options

4 A Few Project Essentials and Settings

What is a project?

What does Microsoft Project do?

How is the program laid out?

What are some of the main options?

Which elements in the window are important?

MS Project Icon

Project management has become a very important part of business in the last twenty years or so. Projects have become so big, even multi-national, that without some means of organizing the reams of data involved, let alone keeping track of scheduling and what’s done or not, it would be impossible. Databases are one kind of software which will help, but it’s rather like using a sledgehammer to drive a nail.

A specialized program for managing project data turns out to be a better choice. It’s actually still a database, but set up in such a way that the raw data are laid out for things like easy scheduling, assigning resources to tasks, and seeing where those things haven’t been done yet. And some of the elements of project management go back a lot further than people think. It’s not even too hard—just takes a little practice, and developing a step-by-step mindset.

One cautionary point to remember: It can’t do the work for us. Think of it as a superb secretary. If you enter the data in a timely way, and update things when they need updating, you’ll get back an accurate picture of how the project is going. Setting a schedule to do this is often helpful.

COURSE NOTE:

At this point, if you haven’t already, you’ll want to unzip or otherwise extract the exercise files for the course. For simplicity’s sake, we recommend the Desktop. That’s where they’ll be as far as the courseware is concerned.

Topic A:

Project Management and Definitions

What exactly is a project? Most definitions agree on a few specific features:

It has a schedule—a beginning, a middle, and an end. It starts on a certain date, goes for a certain period of time, and then stops.

It has a well-defined goal, or set of goals. Usually, it/they will include deliverables—clearly stated things, whether tangible or not, that it’s going to create. Hardware and/or software, so to speak.

It should have concretely listed resources (the people and things to do the work), a well-organized list of tasks to achieve the goals in question, and a reasonable budget, both in time and in money, to make the goal(s) possible.

For example, if Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia is contracted to build an aircraft carrier for the US Navy, they have a budget (several billion dollars), a timeline (three to five years), a percentage of their workforce (around fifteen to twenty thousand people), and so on, allotted to do the work. Similar thinking applies to Microsoft when the company wants to create a new version of an Office program, or when an organization wants to design and build a new rocket motor (or the whole rocket!) for the next venture into space.

There are usually four, or five depending on who you talk to, stages or phases in a project timeline. In the broadest sense, these are at the most basic level of organization for a project.

Stages

1. Initiation, where the need for the project is noted, the goals set, and the paperwork started. This often includes a project charter, or basic outline of the project.

2. Planning, during which the specifics are hammered out, the time and budget agreed on, and the resources made available. The project plan, the equivalent of the term paper to the outline of the charter, is finalized. It can include, or be accompanied by, a scope statement, which is often necessary to mark the borders of the project (about which more shortly).

3. Execution, wherein the tasks are done by the resources to get the project done. This is usually the longest-time part of the project. Which ties in with:

4. Monitoring/Feedback, whose purpose is pretty straightforward—to make sure the execution is going more or less on plan. Keeping the circus lurching happily along, as someone once said. This is also the phase which frequently is bundled with the previous one, hence the occasional discussion about four versus five main stages.

5. Closing, at which point the deliverables are delivered, the final paperwork done, the last payments made (and possibly the end-of-project party happens). It has been pointed out, though, that some of the most potentially serious problems can arise from the simple matter of forgetting to officially sign the deliverable(s) over to the client. Those technicalities can be a bear.

A project also has to normally deal with at least three major constraints, of which changing any one will often affect the others. They are Scope, Time, and Cost

.

three-legged stool

If we think of it as a three-legged stool, we can see how this might be. If we add (or take away) time, we have to add or remove cost (budget) and/or scope (how much we can accomplish) to level the seat again. An old semi-joke says it all: Quick, cheap, good—I can give you any two. There are often other things which come into play, but these are the three biggies most projects have to be aware of.

The most insidious thing which can give a project trouble is scope creep. No, not a creepy person with a telescope—the creeping upward or outward of the scope of the project. Or as the cliché puts it, Everyone has to get their two cents in. People, departments, or groups will try to tweak a project to get something else done which sort of, but doesn’t really, connect to the project, or they’ll try to get the project to get more done for the same amount of time or money. A scope statement can help by including clearly defined limits, or borders, stating what the project is for, and what it’s not for. Most businesses don’t have this problem every time, but better to be prepared.

Lastly, we want to understand that there are a few commonly-accepted jobs or positions in most projects, even if the terms we use here don’t always show up.

The project manager is the Big Kahuna, the person who normally acts as the go-to, the captain of the ship. Keeps an eye on the people, the money, the timeline, and so forth. If a company is smart, they’ll let the PM have the authority to do what s/he needs to do to get the project done, and trust them to do it.

The sponsor(s) will be the manager of the project manager, as it were. The person (or persons) who authorized the project, and who delegated the main authority to the PM.

You’ll almost always have at least one stakeholder. In most situations, this is the